The Lagos State Commissioner of the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, has said it is false to state that Lagos is sustained solely by the commerce from people of the East and South-South regions of Nigeria.

Wahab said this in response to a post by an X user, @TrendFusionNg, amid claims that Lagos is smelling.

According to the X user, if the people of the Southwest are tired of other Nigerians coming to their region, especially Lagos, then they should push for secession.

Giving a reason why the "Southwest establishment has never seriously pushed for secession," the X user said, "Because it knows the rest of Nigeria is its lifeblood—especially the East and South-South, whose commerce, creativity, and capital keep Lagos alive."

In response, the commissioner wrote, "Yes, Lagos is constitutionally a Nigerian city. But it is also a state within a federal republic, with elected leadership accountable to all who live here. The claim that Lagos is sustained solely by 'commerce from the East and South-South' is false and erases the complexity of a city built by many, from everywhere. There are no squatters here. But there are no super-citizens either. Contribution to the economy is not a Get Out of Jail Free card."

The X user also insinuated that the reason why Lagos thrives is because its ports are allowed to function while those in other states are crippled.

"And speaking of the South-South—Warri Port, Calabar Port, Port Harcourt, and Onne—why do they remain underutilised, choked by bureaucracy and sabotage? Because certain vested interests fear that if those ports work, the East will rise economically and Lagos will lose its chokehold," he said.

Firing back, Wahab wrote, "Your points about underutilised ports in the South-South are not new. And they are not dismissed. But port devolution is a federal issue, governed by national economic, legal, and political frameworks. Lagos has consistently advocated for true federalism, including economic decentralisation. What we reject is the idea that Lagos must diminish for others to rise."

ASA